Wednesday, October 31, 2007

They rock. They rave. They rock and rave. And if you're into rockin' rave then join Hamburg's finest on their latest tour. Expect Digitalism in Cairo, Idealistic, Zdarlight and all your other fave raves. November 12 - Oxford Zodiac, November 13 - London Scala - SOLD OUT, November 14 - Brighton Concorde 2, November 15 - Birmingham Barfly, November 17- Manchester Warehouse Project, November 18 - Bristol Fleece, November 19 - Newcastle Academy 2, November 21 - London Kings College - Just Added.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Here are Animal Collective, born out of time and out of mind, ready to drop the motherfucking cathedral on us maggots. Last night, they played St Georges Church, a lovely old Georgian chapel in Brighton – and filled the space with people and noise. After Swedish support band Islaja (nice, but reminded you of an eighties Turkish Delight advert) finished their dull noodling, Animal Collective opened, glitchy as ‘owt, a single note tapped out over and over again, a raw electronic drone fuzzing away.Glitches, glimpses of melody fuzzed in and out. So far, so inescapably captivating, so what you'd expect from AC. It's not until 'Peacebone'’s irresistible, stuttering hook – the closest Panda and Avey's boys get to a Radio-Friendly – that something clicks into place about them: not only are they one of the most thrillingly experimental bands on the planet, they might also be one of the funnest. And they're alright to dance to. MC Avey Tare can’t keep still and is having the time of his bleedin' life: always silhouetted, but always nodding, bent over his mic or yelling up, over into the balcony's crowds. While their rock is leaves us mortals struggling for words wrapped round our headphones, grabbing at and trying to pick instrumentation (let alone influences) out of the yummy cacophony, when heard live, it comes together. Giving yourself a fake name and drawing pandas in a band with your best friends? That’s fucking awesome, man. Doing tricks like splicing forthcoming single 'Fireworks' into oldie 'Explosions' into a seamless wall of noise in a big church in Brighton while strobes flare around you? Fucking awesome, man. Chopping Carl Craig's elegant piano loops into The Beach Boys' harmonies with drone-era Sabbath blasting away, heavier than gravity? Well, who wouldn't?As songs get screwed and chopped together, the melodies get lost along the way, fading in and out, touching from a distance. Oh, sod it. Their sonic bombast doesn’t need much explaining. This was Cathedral-sized rock fit to leave the whole world squirming outside. True, there is something that could veer close to prog here, what with all the abstract noise and mass, "conceptual" dynamics of a church. Lester Bangs once said, scathingly, after a coughsyrup-drenched Tangerine Dream concert in a planetarium that the thing about seeing God is that it is really fucking boring. But seeing Animal Collective isn’t like seeing God – it’s like having Him vomit rainbows on you forever. Awesome.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Our (back) cover stars from earlier this year The Horrors are touring again. The black hand gang will be joining Arctic Monkeys on their tour of sheds in December but precede this with a special show at London's suitably down at heel Electrowerkz in Islington. The show is called 'all ages' but you have to be over 14 to get in and takes place on Dec 5th. More exciting than this is the news that the band will feature in a forthcoming episode of The Mighty Boosh to be screened in November. Whether Faris Badwan (pictured above) will be getting it on with Old Gregg remains to be seen.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Having just celebrated their 8th birthday Fabric are still coming up with great ideas...first the club, then the comps, followed by limited edition towels, mugs, oven gloves(!), ice trays and now this...

Super hot New York afrobeat buzz band Vampire Weekend play Emily Eavis' new night tonight. Like The Specials meet the Bundhu Boys in the Big Apple. Video above from last night's gig at the Borderline. Worth checking.

Friday, October 12, 2007

One of the singles that should have been a huge pop hit is seeing the light of day once again. Criminally ignored by Radio 1 over the summer D.A.N.C.E by Justice will hopefully receive some support from 'The Nation's Favourite' this time around. It is released on November 5th with a Les Rhythmes Digitales remix. Justice told Dummy earlier this year that the track is a true homage to Michael Jackson (the duo always argue they are a pop group not a dance act) and it features track titles from the King of Pop throughout. They had to audition singers from a children's choir (assembled by Damian 'Midfield General' Harris) and admitted they opted for an eight year old who was less slick than the rest (otherwise they were worried they may have a Moby record on their hands). In further homage news, the track is also a nod to Stand On The Word by the Celestial Choir which was made known through a Larry Levan bootleg (and was also championed by the Optimo dj's and included on the Pet Shop Boys Back To Mine album). Enough D.A.N.C.E facts? I think so.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

We just love the Arab/Jew hook up that is Chromeo. They are so 1985 that you can just smell the inside of their red codpieces. Their new video for Bonafide Lovin' references that year too as it seems to be influenced by the Dire Straits Money For Nothing promo. The video was directed by Nima Nourizadeh who has also done vids for Maximo Park and Lily Allen.

We were all over Robyn way before you. Honest. Way back in March. Mind you the album originally came out in Sweden last year but we don't live over there. Robyn's new single Handle Me is out on October 22nd and it's another fine slice of pop. Here is a live version shot at Cargo in London earlier this year. We weren't there but sure wish we had been. She'll be playing big sheds soon.

Man, who doesn't like Daft Punk and specifically who doesn't like their retina scorching, head spinning, cartwheels and hard ons live show? They know all this so they're putting the set out as an album called Alive 2007 on November 19th. It captures their amazing live set as recorded in their home town of Paris. "We hadn't played there for 10 years," said Thomas Bangalter recently , "It must have been a special night for the audience, as well as for us." You'll just have to kick back and conjure up the crazy visuals in your own mind dudes. Here is the full tracklisting over two discs written in SHOUTY CAPS as I've just cut and pasted them right out of an e-mail: CD1 ROBOT ROCK / OH YEAH / TOUCH IT / TECHNOLOGIC / TELEVISION RULES THE NATION / CRESCENDOLLS / TOO LONG / STEAM MACHINE / AROUND THE WORLD / HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER / BURNIN’ / TOO LONG / FACE TO FACE / SHORT CIRCUIT / ONE MORE TIME / AERODYNAMIC / AERODYNAMIC BEATS / FORGET ABOUT THE WORLD / PRIME TIME OF YOUR LIFE / BRAINWASHER / ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’ / ALIVE / DA FUNK / DAFTENDIREKT / SUPERHEROES / HUMAN AFTER ALL / ROCK’N’ROLL. CD 2 HUMAN AFTER ALL / TOGETHER / ONE MORE TIME (REPRISE) / MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU.

Boys Noize launches his debut album Oi, Oi, Oi at Bugged Outat The End on Saturday October 20th. Alex Ridha has promised "the best dj set of my life and I'm going to drop some tracks off my album. In fact I usually play almost every track depending on the time, crowd and mood." Of the lairy title for the album Alex says, "My very good friend and designer Paul Snowden (Wasted German Youth) came up with this idea when he looked at my sticker where Boys Noize was repeated three times. The "oi" was there each time. I thought it fits perfectly to the way I handle my label and myself by saying always "no" to managers, shitty promotion and things I don't like. It's kinda ‘anti’ but it fits to the music, as well. I know where the term/shout comes from and maybe it's a 2007 punk version of it. Punk doesn't just mean the music, it's a way of thinking and attitude. A techno party can feel like a punk concert!" Also playing at the party are Simian Mobile Disco (dj set), D.I.M - live whose 'Airbus Baby' has been big at the club this year, Hervé (aka Count of Monte Cristal) and Bugged Out regulars JoJo De Freq, Hannah Holland, Matt Walsh and Nadia Ksaiba. Tickets available from Ticketweb